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These dark chocolate truffles make a great gift for Christmas or Valentine's Day, or an after dinner treat. Use really good chocolate, at least 70% cocoa. You can leave out the orange if you prefer them plain, or add a splash of you favourite booze – brandy, rum or liqueur. Add this after all the other ingredients have been mixed together. Instead of cocoa powder, you could also cover the truffles in melted chocolate and leave to set to crispness. If you can, leave the mixture to cool overnight - it'll be easier to roll into balls.

Ingredients

Method

Finely chop the chocolate. Put in a heatproof bowl.

Put the butter in a small saucepan with the sugar, cream and 2 tablespoons of orange zest. Heat the pan very gently to melt the sugar crystals, then turn up the heat a little and bring the cream up to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate (if you like, you can pour the cream through a sieve to remove the grated zest, but it’s not necessary). Leave for 1 minute.

Add 1 tablespoon of orange juice to the bowl. Gently stir all the ingredients together until smooth. The mixture will be quite runny at this stage, this is fine.

Leave the mixture to cool at room temperature, then cover and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Remove the bowl from the fridge and leave for 5 minutes. Lay a piece of greaseproof paper on a large plate or tray. Make sure your hands are cool and dry. Coat them in a little of the cocoa powder to stop the mixture sticking if you like (although this stage is unavoidably messy!). Quickly roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls.

Place each chocolate ball on the greaseproof paper. Once they’re all done, put them in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up again slightly.

Remove and roll each one in the cocoa powder to coat then pop them into the paper cases. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge. They can be made in advance and will keep for 3 days. Take them out of the fridge for about 15 minutes before serving so they melt in the mouth.